October - AIDS Awareness Month

October is AIDS Awareness Month here is a brief update from UNAIDS - Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.

UNAIDS recently published “Countdown to Zero: A Global Plan Towards the Elimination of New HIV Infections Among Children by 2015 and Keeping Their Mothers Alive.” Leaders from 25 countries, 30 civil societies, private sector, networks of people living with HIV and international organizations met to discuss the AIDS pandemic and draft a plan to force a dramatic decrease in the transmission of AIDS from mother to child during childbirth.

The plan has the following Global Targets:

                Global Target #1: Reduce the number of new HIV infections among children by 90%

                Global Target #2: Reduce the number of AIDS-related maternal deaths by 50%.

And these four key principles for success:

1.       Women living with HIV are central and must remain a focus

2.       Countries must own responsibility for eliminating new HIV infections among children

3.       National plans must leverage synergies, linkages and integration for improved sustainability

4.       Responsibility is shared between families, communities and countries and accountability must be specific

There are many challenges that must be overcome for “Countdown to Zero” to reach its goal. Among them are the needs for excellent leadership, countries to remain in alignment with the plan, adequate finances, comprehensive and coordinated implementation of treatment for mother and child, human resources, and infrastructure to support the consistent transport of supplies.

(To access the full report, go to www.unaids.org.)

Fourteen Women Making a Major Impact

Several times a year, individuals climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, as a fundraiser for the American Foundation for Children with AIDS. On October 1^st, fourteen women are flying to Tanzania to hike Kilimanjaro’s 19,340 feet. Each climber raised a minimum of $8,000 for AFCA and their efforts have the following impact.

·       Medical supplies affecting 30,000 people in Papoli, Uganda

·       School supplies for 800 children in Papoli, Uganda

·       Medical supplies affecting 170,000 people in Kilembe Mines, Uganda

·       2,475,000 doses of antibiotics for children to keep full blown AIDS at bay in 35 clinics throughout Uganda

·       Porridge, milk, and oil for 1600 children (twice daily) for 4 months in Mombasa and Voi, Kenya

·       Nevirapine, an anti-retroviral drug for 500 children and mothers in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

This list is truly amazing and we are extremely grateful to these women!

For more information about Climb Up: Kilimanjaro and other fundraising initiatives, or to make a donation that will build on the list above, go to www.AFCAids.org.

A Cheaper And More Accessible Blood Test

A new credit card sized and portable blood testing kit has been making its rounds in Rwanda with remarkable results. The mChip is much cheaper and just as reliable and accurate as hospital lab tests for detecting diseases such as syphilis and HIV. It was developed by Samuel Sia, a professor at Columbia University, and funded by the National Institute of Health and the Wallace Coulter Foundation. The mChip has been put through clinical trials in Rwanda where it reported nearly 100% accuracy (they tested patients already known to be HIV positive and only had one false result). This blood test will no doubt make a huge impact for those living in remote areas. Instead of having to wait for days for a blood test report from a hospital, a person can now have near instantaneous results. Developers have estimated its cost at only a couple of dollars per unit. Sia, the lead developer, hopes especially to use this to diagnose pregnant women in remote, poor areas who otherwise would not have access to a hospital for testing. If caught early HIV positive mothers could be prevented from transmitting the virus to their children. The next step is finding a company to manufacture and distribute within the next couple of years. If you'd like to read more you can check out these articles:
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/190205/20110801/study-low-cost-disposable-blood-cards-to-offer-easy-hiv-and-syphilis-checks-in-developing-countries.htm
http://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/stories/hiv-testing-cheap-accurate-with-new-portable-blood-test-kit
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-14361017

In Our Own Backyard

It's been one year since the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) was unveiled by President Obama. The strategy addresses the needs of United States citizens with HIV/AIDS and presents steps to fighting the epidemic at the domestic level. HIV/AIDS is sometimes not thought of as a major problem for the United States. It's so often associated with poor third-world nations that it's not given enough attention here at home. The strategy addresses this problem and now after a year of the NHAS in action we can see how the epidemic has been confronted in the US. A review of the strategy showed a significant focus on HIV testing and anti-HIV/AIDS discrimination. The Department of Veterans Affairs increased the number of HIV tests administered to veterans. The Department of Labor held a roundtable discussion over employment discrimination for individuals with HIV and have distributed public education materials on the rights of employees with emphasis on those who are HIV positive. The Department of Health and Human Services is working to begin a program concerning viral hepatitis since up to thirty percent of HIV positive individuals are also infected with hepatitis. If you'd like to read more on the progress by NHAS you can see this report by an employee of the Department of Health and Human Services. The CDC has also blogged about the strategy and it's progress.

Two Promising Studies

I had mentioned in a previous blog that there would be a conference on AIDS in Rome. It was a four day event held by the International AIDS Society. At the conference there was a presentation of the results of a trial regarding the spread of AIDS. The results showed that an HIV positive person taking antiretroviral drugs had a decreased chance of spreading the virus to others by nearly 97%. By forcing the virus to "retreat", ART keeps the virus out of the bloodstream and other bodily fluids through which it is normally transmitted. This news will hopefully be a big push for expanding and creating more ART programs across the world. UNAIDS predicts that around 9 million people who could benefit from ART are not receiving the drugs. The next conference won't be until 2013 in Malaysia. You can visit the conference's website here.

Another study revealed that male circumcision could reduce the risk of HIV infection by up to 60%. Rwanda is taking this study very seriously and has begun to perform non-surgical circumcisions by using a device called PrePex. Since December 2010 Rwanda has circumcised 5000 men and hope to have that number up to 2 million by 2012. This, it is believed, will bring the HIV prevalence rate from 3% to 1.5% in the country. For more on this see this article by the BBC.

The East African Crisis

The UN on Wednesday declared a famine in parts of southern Somalia and predicts a spread of famine to all of southern Somalia within two months unless action is taken immediately. Around $300 million in aid is predicted to be needed in the next several months to keep the famine from spreading. After the announcement, the United States gave an additional $28 million in funding. Hopefully the declaration of a famine and the United States' donation will inspire other countries to help. I think this article really helps explain the level of this catastrophe more than any statistic ever could. If you'd like to find out more ways to help you can look at this article from CNN.

Famine To Be Officially Declared

The UN is set to officially declare a famine in parts of southern Somalia. The drought and food crisis in the Horn of Africa up to this point has been categorized as an "emergency" which is one step behind a famine. There are five levels of food security classification ranging from "generally secure" to "catastrophe/famine". The last official famine to be declared was in Ethiopia in the mid 1980's. A famine is declared once death rates reach 2 per 10,000 per day and malnutrition rates are at or above 30%. The UN has called for $1.6 billion in aid but only half that has been met. The US has been especially reluctant to give aid to Somalia and has cut its funding by 88% due to the presence of insurgents linked to al-Qaeda. The US worries that the aid would fall into the wrong hands and benefit the terrorists. However the insurgents have declared an amnesty for aid deliveries. It will be interesting to see if the declaration of a famine will change any minds in Washington to increase funding. For more on the US position and its implications see this article. And for a visual reference of the drought and food crisis, this interactive map is a great resource. I'll definitely be blogging more about this situation and especially how the declaration of a famine affects aid to the countries so keep checking the blog!